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Skeleton Creek from a Sixth Grade Point of View February 10, 2009

The book Skeleton Creek is written in journal format, as though the main character, Ryan, is writing down the events as they happen. The story begins with Bryan having a crushed leg after falling in a gold mine called the Dredge. With a realistic style, he begins to record events that bring suspense and even scares into the reader. With twists and turns, Ryan and his friend Sarah begin to uncover the secrets of the gold mine, from ghosts to secret clubs. To add to the spine tingling chills, the book adds videos on sarahfincher.com with codes that make an extremely suspenseful book entwine with pure horror videos. Although the book is a great read for all ages, the videos can be slightly terrifying, with demons (see the front cover) and massive buildups.

This book is certainly something any suspense novel fan, ghost story lover, or horror flick admirer should read and watch. The book is truly phenomenal for many reasons. First of all, the detail is incredible. After a rather rocky beginning, the story begins to unfold into a true piece of literary art, where it feels as though you are right there with the main character. It also has massive amounts of suspense, along with bits of shear horror, that make it a page turner that is virtually impossible to put down until the very last page. The videos on the site add to the suspense, giving readers the ability to watch for themselves the events that make the story so great. If the videos are to creepy, the book itself explains most of what is in the videos. Watch out though, the end of the book has some serious surprises and will leave the reader begging for more. A definite read for anybody who likes anything eerie. Note though: this book along with the videos may be to scary for some viewers under 13 years of age and the parents may want to watch the clips with their child(ren).

Also- while watching the videos, watch the image of the Dredge behind the clip, if parts of it begin to glow, click on them, you may be surprised by what you see.

2 Responses to “Skeleton Creek from a Sixth Grade Point of View”

I follow your blog and love it. Thanks so much for the time you spend on it! For the first time, I am doing a Unit of Study on book reviews with my 4th and 5th grade students. Would you mind if I used Will’s review as a Mentor Text for my students. I would be happy to provide any credit to Will that you would suggest.